以賽亞書37:1-38

37:1 希西家王聽見就撕裂衣服，披上麻布，進了耶和華的殿，
37:2 使家宰以利亞敬和書記舍伯那，並祭司中的長老，都披上麻布，去見亞摩斯的兒子先知以賽亞，
37:3 對他說：「希西家如此說：『今日是急難、責罰、凌辱的日子，就如婦人將要生產嬰孩，卻沒有力量生產。
37:4 或者耶和華─你的上帝聽見拉伯沙基的話，就是他主人亞述王打發他來辱罵永生上帝的話；耶和華─你的上帝聽見這話就發斥責。故此，求你為餘剩的民揚聲禱告。』」
37:5 希西家王的臣僕就去見以賽亞。
37:6 以賽亞對他們說：「要這樣對你們的主人說，耶和華如此說：『你聽見亞述王的僕人褻瀆我的話，不要懼怕。
37:7 我必驚動（原文是使靈進入）他的心；他要聽見風聲就歸回本地，我必使他在那裡倒在刀下。』」
37:8 拉伯沙基回去，正遇見亞述王攻打立拿；原來他早聽見亞述王拔營離開拉吉。
37:9 亞述王聽見人論古實王特哈加說：「他出來要與你爭戰。」亞述王一聽見，就打發使者去見希西家，吩咐他們說：
37:10 「你們對猶大王希西家如此說：『不要聽你所倚靠的上帝欺哄你說：耶路撒冷必不交在亞述王的手中。
37:11 你總聽說亞述諸王向列國所行的乃是盡行滅絕，難道你還能得救嗎？
37:12 我列祖所毀滅的，就是歌散、哈蘭、利色，和屬提‧拉撒的伊甸人；這些國的神何曾拯救這些國呢？
37:13 哈馬的王，亞珥拔的王，西法瓦音城的王，希拿和以瓦的王，都在哪裡呢？』」
37:14 希西家從使者手裡接過書信來，看完了，就上耶和華的殿，將書信在耶和華面前展開。
37:15 希西家向耶和華禱告說：
37:16 「坐在二基路伯上萬軍之耶和華─以色列的上帝啊，你─惟有你是天下萬國的上帝，你曾創造天地。
37:17 耶和華啊，求你側耳而聽；耶和華啊，求你睜眼而看，要聽西拿基立的一切話，他是打發使者來辱罵永生上帝的。
37:18 耶和華啊，亞述諸王果然使列國和列國之地變為荒涼，
37:19 將列國的神像都扔在火裡；因為他本不是神，乃是人手所造的，是木頭、石頭的，所以滅絕他。
37:20 耶和華─我們的上帝啊，現在求你救我們脫離亞述王的手，使天下萬國都知道唯有你是耶和華。」
37:21 亞摩斯的兒子以賽亞就打發人去見希西家，說：「耶和華─以色列的上帝如此說，你既然求我攻擊亞述王西拿基立，
37:22 所以耶和華論他這樣說：錫安的處女藐視你，嗤笑你；耶路撒冷的女子向你搖頭。
37:23 你辱罵誰，褻瀆誰？揚起聲來，高舉眼目攻擊誰呢？乃是攻擊以色列的聖者。
37:24 你藉你的臣僕辱罵主說：我率領許多戰車上山頂，到黎巴嫩極深之處；我要砍伐其中高大的香柏樹和佳美的松樹。我必上極高之處，進入肥田的樹林。
37:25 我已經挖井喝水；我必用腳掌踏乾埃及的一切河。
37:26 耶和華說：你豈沒有聽見我早先所做的、古時所立的嗎？現在藉你使堅固城荒廢，變為亂堆。
37:27 所以其中的居民力量甚小，驚惶羞愧。他們像野草，像青菜，如房頂上的草，又如田間未長成的禾稼。
37:28 你坐下，你出去，你進來，你向我發烈怒，我都知道。
37:29 因你向我發烈怒，又因你狂傲的話達到我耳中，我就要用鉤子鉤上你的鼻子，把嚼環放在你口裡，使你從原路轉回去。
37:30 「以色列人哪，我賜你們一個證據：你們今年要吃自生的，明年也要吃自長的，至於後年，你們要耕種收割，栽植葡萄園，吃其中的果子。
37:31 猶大家所逃脫餘剩的，仍要往下扎根，向上結果。
37:32 必有餘剩的民從耶路撒冷而出；必有逃脫的人從錫安山而來。萬軍之耶和華的熱心必成就這事。
37:33 「所以耶和華論亞述王如此說：他必不得來到這城，也不在這裡射箭，不得拿盾牌到城前，也不築壘攻城。
37:34 他從哪條路來，必從那條路回去，必不得來到這城。這是耶和華說的。
37:35 因我為自己的緣故，又為我僕人大衛的緣故，必保護拯救這城。」
37:36 耶和華的使者出去，在亞述營中殺了十八萬五千人。清早有人起來一看，都是死屍了。
37:37 亞述王西拿基立就拔營回去，住在尼尼微。
37:38 一日在他的神─尼斯洛廟裡叩拜，他兒子亞得米勒和沙利色用刀殺了他，就逃到亞拉臘地。他兒子以撒哈頓接續他作王。

When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”

⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹Now the king heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, “He has set out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰“Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁶“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods, but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. ²⁰So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

²¹ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria, ²²this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:

She despises you, she scorns you—

virgin daughter Zion;

she tosses her head—behind your back,

daughter Jerusalem.

23

“Whom have you mocked and reviled?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and haughtily lifted your eyes?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

24

By your servants you have mocked the Lord,

and you have said, ‘With my many chariots

I have gone up the heights of the mountains,

to the far recesses of Lebanon;

I felled its tallest cedars,

its choicest cypresses;

I came to its remotest height,

its densest forest.

25

I dug wells

and drank waters,

I dried up with the sole of my foot

all the streams of Egypt.’

26

“Have you not heard

that I determined it long ago?

I planned from days of old

what now I bring to pass,

that you should make fortified cities

crash into heaps of ruins,

27

while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,

are dismayed and confounded;

they have become like plants of the field

and like tender grass,

like grass on the housetops,

blighted before it is grown.

 

28

“I know your rising up and your sitting down,

your going out and coming in,

and your raging against me.

29

Because you have raged against me

and your arrogance has come to my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth;

I will turn you back on the way

by which you came.

³⁰ “And this shall be the sign for you: This year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³¹The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; ³²for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

³³ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. ³⁴By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. ³⁵For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

³⁶ Then the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. ³⁷Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh. ³⁸As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.

***********

    先知在此敘述了猶大國如何蒙上帝的救拔，脫離亞述的威脅。這對於猶大的百姓是多麼歡喜快樂的事啊！也再次讓我們體認到上帝是多麼愛祂的子民，願意為祂的子民出手拯救！

    我以曾經以這個背景來套入『但那等候耶和華的必重新得力。他們必如鷹展翅上騰；他們奔跑卻不困倦，行走卻不疲乏』的講道，使聽眾明白上帝是最大且顧念我們的上帝！

    是的，倚靠耶和華上帝，並定重新得力，使我們不斷感受到上帝的眷顧與復活的大能！

以賽亞書36章

      以賽亞書36:1-22  ,     以賽亞書36:5  ,

以賽亞書36:1-22

36:1 希西家王十四年，亞述王西拿基立上來攻擊猶大的一切堅固城，將城攻取。
36:2 亞述王從拉吉差遣拉伯沙基率領大軍往耶路撒冷，到希西家王那裡去。他就站在上池的水溝旁，在漂布地的大路上。
36:3 於是希勒家的兒子家宰以利亞敬，並書記舍伯那和亞薩的兒子史官約亞，出來見拉伯沙基。
36:4 拉伯沙基對他們說：「你們去告訴希西家說，亞述大王如此說：『你所倚靠的有甚麼可仗賴的呢？
36:5 你說，有打仗的計謀和能力，我看不過是虛話。你到底倚靠誰才背叛我呢？
36:6 看哪，你所倚靠的埃及是那壓傷的葦杖，人若靠這杖，就必刺透他的手。埃及王法老向一切倚靠他的人也是這樣。
36:7 你若對我說：我們倚靠耶和華─我們的上帝。希西家豈不是將上帝的邱壇和祭壇廢去，且對猶大和耶路撒冷的人說：你們當在這壇前敬拜嗎？
36:8 現在你把當頭給我主亞述王，我給你二千匹馬，看你這一面騎馬的人夠不夠。
36:9 若不然，怎能打敗我主臣僕中最小的軍長呢？你竟倚靠埃及的戰車馬兵嗎？
36:10 現在我上來攻擊毀滅這地，豈沒有耶和華的意思嗎？耶和華吩咐我說，你上去攻擊毀滅這地吧！』」
36:11 以利亞敬、舍伯那、約亞對拉伯沙基說：「求你用亞蘭言語和僕人說話，因為我們懂得；不要用猶大言語和我們說話，達到城上百姓的耳中。」
36:12 拉伯沙基說：「我主差遣我來，豈是單對你和你的主說這些話嗎？不也是對這些坐在城上、要與你們一同吃自己糞喝自己尿的人說嗎？」
36:13 於是，拉伯沙基站著，用猶大言語大聲喊著說：「你們當聽亞述大王的話。
36:14 王如此說：『你們不要被希西家欺哄了，因他不能拯救你們。
36:15 也不要聽希西家使你們倚靠耶和華說：耶和華必要拯救我們，這城必不交在亞述王的手中。』
36:16 不要聽希西家的話，因亞述王如此說：『你們要與我和好。出來投降我，各人就可以吃自己葡萄樹和無花果樹的果子，喝自己井裡的水。
36:17 等我來領你們到一個地方，與你們本地一樣，就是有五穀和新酒之地，有糧食和葡萄園之地。
36:18 你們要謹防，恐怕希西家勸導你們說：耶和華必拯救我們。列國的神有哪一個救他本國脫離亞述王的手呢？
36:19 哈馬和亞珥拔的神在哪裡呢？西法瓦音的神在哪裡呢？他們曾救撒馬利亞脫離我的手嗎？
36:20 這些國的神有誰曾救自己的國脫離我的手呢？難道耶和華能救耶路撒冷脫離我的手嗎？』」
36:21 百姓靜默不言，並不回答一句，因為王曾吩咐說：「不要回答他。」
36:22 當下希勒家的兒子家宰以利亞敬和書記舍伯那，並亞薩的兒子史官約亞，都撕裂衣服，來到希西家那裡，將拉伯沙基的話告訴了他。

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ²The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ³And there came out to him Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder.

⁴ The Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours? ⁵Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶See, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. ⁷But if you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? ⁸Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ⁹How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.”

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” ¹²But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the people sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

¹³ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ ¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, ¹⁷until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The Lord will save us. Has any of the gods of the nations saved their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who among all the gods of these countries have saved their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should save Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ”

²¹ But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” ²²Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

***********

    先知這時將情境拉回現實的狀態，因為亞述王來攻擊猶大，搶奪了猶大許多的城池，一直攻打到耶路撒冷外。亞述軍隊的元帥拉伯沙基，竟然向猶大的三位使臣希勒家的兒子家宰以利亞敬、並書記舍伯那和亞薩的兒子史官約亞，發出囂張的語言，想要嚇嚇耶路撒冷的百姓。

    百姓聽了以後，靜默不言，並不回答一句，因為王曾吩咐說：「不要回答他。」

    反倒是那三位使臣的反應比較劇烈，都撕裂衣服！

    但是不管如何，我們不要因為仇敵囂張而害怕，更是要勇敢面對，因為上帝是我們的堅固保障！正如馬丁路德宗教改革時的重要詩歌：

上主是我堅固保障，莊嚴雄峻永堅強；

上主使我安穩前航，助我乘風破駭浪。

惡魔盤踞世上，仍謀興波作浪，

猖狂狡猾異常，猙獰殘暴非常，陰險絕世惡無雙。

我若但憑自已力量，自知斷難相對抗，

幸有一人挺身先登，率領著我往前方。

如問此人為誰？乃是基督我王，

統管宇宙萬方，自古萬民共仰，定能將群魔掃蕩！

群魔雖然環繞我身，向我盡量施侵凌，

我不懼怕，因神有旨，真理必使我得勝。

幽暗之君雖猛，不足令我心驚，

他怒我能容忍，日後勝負必分，主言必使他敗奔。

主言權力偉大非常，遠勝世上眾君王，

聖靈恩典為我所有，因主耶穌在我方。

親戚,貨財可捨，渺小浮生可喪，

人或殘殺我身，主道依然興旺，上主國度永久長。

以賽亞書35章

   以賽亞書35:1-10     , 以賽亞書35:4  ,

以賽亞書35:1-10

35:1 曠野和乾旱之地必然歡喜；沙漠也必快樂；又像玫瑰開花，
35:2 必開花繁盛，樂上加樂，而且歡呼。黎巴嫩的榮耀，並迦密與沙崙的華美，必賜給它。人必看見耶和華的榮耀，我們上帝的華美。
35:3 你們要使軟弱的手堅壯，無力的膝穩固。
35:4 對膽怯的人說：你們要剛強，不要懼怕。看哪，你們的上帝必來報仇，必來施行極大的報應；他必來拯救你們。
35:5 那時，瞎子的眼必睜開；聾子的耳必開通。
35:6 那時，瘸子必跳躍像鹿；啞巴的舌頭必能歌唱。在曠野必有水發出；在沙漠必有河湧流。
35:7 發光的沙（或譯：蜃樓）要變為水池；乾渴之地要變為泉源。在野狗躺臥之處，必有青草、蘆葦，和蒲草。
35:8 在那裡必有一條大道，稱為聖路。污穢人不得經過，必專為贖民行走；行路的人雖愚昧，也不致失迷。
35:9 在那裡必沒有獅子，猛獸也不登這路；在那裡都遇不見，只有贖民在那裡行走。
35:10 並且耶和華救贖的民必歸回，歌唱來到錫安；永樂必歸到他們的頭上；他們必得著歡喜快樂，憂愁歎息盡都逃避。

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus ²it shall blossom abundantly,

and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

the majesty of our God.

3

Strengthen the weak hands,

and make firm the feeble knees.

4

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

“Be strong, do not fear!

Here is your God.

He will come with vengeance,

with terrible recompense.

He will come and save you.”

5

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

6

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert;

7

the burning sand shall become a pool,

and the thirsty ground springs of water;

the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

8

A highway shall be there,

and it shall be called the Holy Way;

the unclean shall not travel on it,

but it shall be for God’s people;

no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

9

No lion shall be there,

nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

but the redeemed shall walk there.

10

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain joy and gladness,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

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***********

    喜樂是得上帝救贖的表現，正如先知所宣告：「在那裡必有一條大道，稱為聖路。污穢人不得經過，必專為贖民行走；行路的人雖愚昧，也不致失迷。在那裡必沒有獅子，猛獸也不登這路；在那裡都遇不見，只有贖民在那裡行走。並且耶和華救贖的民必歸回，歌唱來到錫安；永樂必歸到他們的頭上；他們必得著歡喜快樂，憂愁歎息盡都逃避。」

    的確，被上帝所救贖的人，心中因為感謝上帝，就有喜樂完全在心中，就會感到滿足與幸福，就會受上帝的愛所充滿，於是對前程充滿信心與盼望！就感到安穩自在，心中沒有恐懼，一切黑影全部掃除了！

    親愛的弟兄姊妹，我們今天透過主耶穌，正走在這個充滿喜樂的救贖之路！我們可以勇敢的享受與歡呼，因為上帝在基督裡的應許永遠是「是」！不僅如此，透過「信」我們就領受了基督的一切了，基督有的，也是我們所有的！因為，在永恆裡，上帝以基督為我們的獎賞了！